Larkcall Lowlands I've been losing myself but lately

February 6th; Mostly cloudy, light breeze; Evening, after sunset; -18° F, -28° C.

Chimera might have said to meet Anwen a few evenings after they had first met, but every time Chimera had gone to meet her, she was simply not there. Nothing but the gentle whisper of dead, rustling wheat and the vast expanse of mostly-virgin snow rose up to meet him. The frost-covered slopes were now a soft blue, awaiting the light of the waning gibbous moon. Chimera himself was a stark brown and black in the absence of the sun and he wondered if he would be able to pick his friend out of the snow in the growing dark or if he would be stood up again.

Just to be sure he had not missed her, he patrolled along his parents' borders with his nose to the ground, scouting all directions from where he had first met the white-furred girl. He didn't find her and had no choice but to return to point zero. Worried, white-trimmed irises scoured the wintery landscape. If it had been him, he might have kept her waiting a few nights too, but he had been - and still was - truly excited to see the sights that she had mentioned to him.

As a measure of caution, just to cover all his bases, he let out a soft bark. Nothing came back in response. He swallowed, certain by now that he was probably the most 'needy' of the two of them (which, to Chimera, made no sense since he had Gale and Neko to adventure with from time to time). He paced around the very spot where her days-old scent barely clung to the ground. Then, in near-desperation, he called out into the twilight, "Anwen?"

For the past few nights, Anwen had spent her time exploring the Lowlands, but mostly the parts where it butted up against the taller grasses and fields of Chimera's pack lands. There were plenty of places where prey could hide or hibernate for the season and she found it easy to traverse in comparison to her densely forested home in the east. If Fate would have it, she was hoping to make a home for herself here. She was just about to stick her snout into a small burrow in the earth (everything around it smelled like hare for the most part) when the wind whistled in her ears and something that sounded like her name came on the breeze.

"Anwen?"

The girl froze, head slowly coming up as she glanced about. He must only be a good romp away, somewhere at her back. Chimera had kept his promise. With an easy gait across the hard-packed snow, she returned to the place where she had first stumbled upon the Wild Rye Fields. A few steps more to her left and there he was against a backdrop of blue-tinted slopes. "You made it," she smirked, tail waving in greeting as she drew closer to him. "See, nothing snatched you away..."

All he had needed to do was call her name, and there she was. His tail wagged and a toothy smile made its way onto his dark face in response to her smirk. "See," she said, "nothing snatched you away..." Chimera's chest puffed up and he let loose a scoff, trying to play it all cool. The air from his lungs hissed across his tongue and through his teeth. "Pssshhhh, I knew that."

She drew close to him and he steeled himself, sizing her up once again. He hadn't forgotten that she was just as large as he was, taller by just a little bit; but somehow, even with her thick winter coat, she seemed frailer. A part of him wanted to nestle up next to her; he hated it.

He loudly cleared his throat and his jaw jumped, hoping she wouldn't make contact. "You promised to show me one of those... erm..." Wow, he couldn't remember what they were called. It was her fault for making him not think clearly. He drew his eyes back to her face after staring at her tail for a moment too long. "Those stars."

In an attempt to try and get over the butterflies that had suddenly taken refuge in his chest, he stomped past her, eyes already skyward as he looked at the clouds. "So, where are they?"

we can be blue as a neon light, singing them sad love songs all night
Niles is currently traveling with Chimera and may hop into this IC thread!

There is a family of deer nearby. Hunt Opportunity

Ah, there he was... She wondered if his fur would bristle. It didn't. Instead, he basically shrugged at her and she held back a giggle, merely beaming at him. She was right and she was sure he knew it by now.

Score: Anwen, 1. Chimera, 0.

"You promised to show me one of those... erm..." He had started and stumbled. She waited patiently as he focused on her; those moonlit yellow eyes drawn from somewhere along her body right back to her face. "Those stars." She opened her mouth to speak, struggling a little with the timidity that gripped her then in there the moment she had seen his dark face.

He stepped to one side and moved past her, "So, where are they?" Anwen whirled around and gamboled to his side, tail in the air and tongue threatening to loll over her teeth and lips. Somewhere in the distance, a herd of deer noticed the two young wolves. The largest of them stopped grazing to stare, ears flicking back and forth as the rest continued to graze on the frozen grasses.

With a streak of confidence, Anwen lifted a paw and batted at his shoulder. Her voice dropped momentarily to a whisper, wondering if he would stop and face her again, "You have to be still." As of to set an example, she eased herself into the sound, sitting proper as she gave a coy smile. "Sit..."

Chimera's eyes widened as he stared into the sky above them, searching the patches of stars between the clouds. He flinched as Anwen pawed at his shoulder, turning to face her. She told him that he had to be still. His dark brow furrowed, barely capable of not scoffing at her. Instead, he clicked his teeth with utter disappointment. If there was one thing anyone had to know about Drestig and Jessie's son, it was that he was almost always go-go-go.

"Sit," she instructed after she, herself, had settled on the ground next to him.

Begrudgingly, he mirrored her actions, taking a deep breath to quell the excitement that had built up in his bones. At the corner of his eye, the deer caught his attention. Chimera's eyes narrowed, as if willing the herd to mind their own business - most especially the large, nosy one. To his pleasure, the doe returned to nibbling at the frozen grass tips.

"All right," he whispered under his breath at her, "I'm still already... now what?"

we can be blue as a neon light, singing them sad love songs all night
Niles is currently traveling with Chimera and may hop into this IC thread!